Forest extend lead at the top as Burnley game called off
Nottingham Forest kicked off the week three points clear at the top of the Professional Development League with ourselves and Leeds United the two behind them but they took advantage of our game against Leeds being called off to move six points ahead.
They beat Crewe last Friday to increase their lead but it was a lead that would have been reduced, no matter what the result, had the Burnley v Leeds game gone ahead on Monday. Leeds are above us on goal difference and they have a game in hand on both us and Forest.
With the number of players having gone out on loan we will continue to play a lot of the under-18s in this league and that could see us drop in the league. In the latest set of games, Wigan beat Bolton and they are now only two points behind us.
If Forest are increasing their lead in the north, then it is a different story in the south where Watford’s lead at the top has now been reduced to one point. They were surprisingly beaten by QPR on Monday and on the following day Millwall beat bottom of the league Crystal Palace. That’s taken them within a point of Watford and with a game in hand.
It’s another double header for us this week. We play our final Premier League Cup game of the season tomorrow. It’s a home game against Blackburn but, as was the case last time we played them in this competition, we’ve opted to play it at Morecambe.
Then, next Monday, we travel to Stocksbridge Park Steels. We played Sheffield United there two seasons ago but it is Sheffield Wednesday who now play their home games at the ground and they are our next league opponents.
The player featured this week is central defender Bobby Thomas who is now one of the more experienced players available to Andy Farrell.
The League Tables and the Premier League Group Tables are updated as results are confirmed and can be found with our Fixtures and Results within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
Last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, the leading scorers, our scorers and the current tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Thursday 13th February
Wigan 1 Sheffield United 0
Friday 14th February
Nottingham Forest 3 Crewe 1
Monday 17th February
Burnley v Leeds – match postponed
Sheffield United 0 Hull 3
Wigan 3 Bolton 0
Charlton v Cardiff – match postponed
Colchester 4 Coventry 4
Watford 2 QPR 3
Tuesday 18th February
Barnsley 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2
Millwall 1 Crystal Palace 0
PREMIER LEAGUE CUP
Thursday 13th February
West Brom 3 Scunthorpe 0
Tuesday 18th February
Portsmouth v Aston Villa – match postponed
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Friday 21st February
Coventry v Bristol City
Monday 24th February
Bolton v Birmingham
Crewe v Barnsley
Leeds v Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday v Burnley
Bristol City v Ipswich
PREMIER LEAGUE CUP
Thursday 20th February
Burnley v Blackburn
Friday 21st February
Birmingham v Derby
Bournemouth v Southampton
Hull v West Brom
Leeds v Wolves
Liverpool v Huddersfield
Middlesbrough v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Scunthorpe
Nottingham Forest v Stoke
Watford v Everton
Wigan v Sunderland
Monday 24th February
Charlton v Reading
Colchester v Swansea
Doncaster v Exeter
Huddersfield v Wigan
Liverpool v Sunderland
Tuesday 25th February
Hull v Scunthorpe
Plymouth v Fulham
Portsmouth v Aston Villa
Stoke v Southampton
Wolves v Derby
LEADING GOALSCORERS (League)
14: George Alexander (Millwall), Sam Dalby (Watford)
11: Joseph Hungbo (Watford)
10: Brennan Johnson (Nottingham Forest)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cups)
10: Ali Koiki
6: Rob Harker
5: Lewis Richardson
3: Josh Benson, Joe McGlynn, Joel Mumbongo
2: Tunde Bayode, Mitch George, Bobby Thomas, Oliver Younger
1: Cricky Conn-Clarke, Anthony Glennon, Mace Goodridge, Adam Legzdins, Christian N’Guessan, Adam Phillips, Max Thompson, Ne-Jai Tucker, Scott Wilson
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Nottingham Forest | 20 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 48 | 21 | 44 |
| Leeds | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 39 | 17 | 38 |
| Burnley | 20 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 38 | 21 | 38 |
| Wigan | 20 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 36 | 27 | 36 |
| Birmingham City | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 25 | 33 |
| Hull City | 19 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 33 | 33 | 32 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 21 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 35 | 35 | 29 |
| Barnsley | 22 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 36 | 43 | 26 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 33 | 37 | 21 |
| Sheffield United | 23 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 29 | 45 | 17 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 20 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 15 | 67 | 4 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Watford | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 48 | 34 | 38 |
| Millwall | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 35 | 22 | 37 |
| Coventry City | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 27 | 32 |
| Charlton Athletic | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 30 | 30 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 20 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 38 | 33 | 28 |
| Cardiff City | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 32 | 25 |
| Ipswich Town | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 35 | 22 |
| Bristol City | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 32 | 21 |
| Colchester United | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 28 | 44 | 16 |
| Crystal Palace | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 22 | 33 | 13 |
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